The present invention relates generally to portable computers and more specifically to a keyboardless computer, herein designated a computer aided notebook, that allows real-time coupling of manual paper form completion into machine recognizable form.
Patents related to the background technology owned by the assignee of the present invention include U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,105 issued Dec. 24, 1985, U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,102 issued Jan. 5, 1988, U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,196 issued Feb. 25, 1986, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,231 issued July 23, 1985, all of which relate to character recognition through stroke analysis with a digitizer. The background technology enables reliable and rapid recognition of handwritten characters using real-time stroke recognition techniques. While the background technology focused originally on the special problems related to recognition of Chinese character-based writing systems, the technology has been adapted to recognition of Roman and Arabic characters.
With the advent of computers, especially of portable computers, data processing and entry have been greatly facilitated. Even for those more proficient with a keyboard than a pen, many applications still require using pen and paper, such as inventory or form entry, and require subsequent data entry into a computer system for storage and processing.
Systems similar to pen and paper have been developed using so-called user friendly software programs that utilize icons and a mouse arrangement. Though these devices have decreased the needed time for the data processing and entry aspect of everyday business, still they are not as convenient and versatile as a pen. But until recently, a method to enter information and data directly by handwriting means in field applications had eluded the computer industry. Such a system now exists based on the use of a digitizer tablet.
A digitizer tablet allows the direct input of handwriting into a computer. Digitizer tablets have been used in the past primarily for entry of graphical information rather than symbols. Various digitizer tablets that have achieved various degrees of success have been on the market in recent years. However, many of these digitizer tablet systems are peripheral devices for a personal computer or computer work station. Only a limited number have had "portable" computer functionability.
These "portable" digitizer computers have all had varying success in using handwriting instead of a keyboard for input. One such device is the Casio IN-3000. This portable digitizer computer is relatively small, about the size of a book. It is limited to writing directly on the digitizer screen without the ability to place a form or template, and is most useful only in simple record keeping activities such as telephone numbers, appointments, and short memos. Furthermore, the symbol recognition ability is limited and cumbersome, often requiring repeated attempts before the desired symbol is acknowledged.
Another device found in the prior art is the Linus Write-Top. It has improved symbol recognition over that of the above apparatus, but it is limited in both display size and digitizer input area, and also has limited ability in using standardized forms or templates.
One last prior art device, known as Script-Writer, is a portable clipboard-housed computer. It allows use of standard forms and templates overlaying the digitizer, but only allows a limited display area for viewing the entered data and correcting such as errors occur. Moreover, none of these devices has a separate second digitizer. Nor does the prior art use a separate display that readily and easily shows most all of the entered data.
Most importantly, there is no keyboardless portable computer that allows the use of two separate digitizers in tandem that allows a user to input data on one digitizer, view it on a second digitizer that doubles as a display, and to make changes to the displayed material on the second digitizer as necessary.
Therefore, it is one objective of the present invention to provide a computer aided notebook that utilizes two or more separate digitizers combined in the form of a notebook. Another objective of the present invention is to provide a system that allows one digitizer to be rotated with respect to the second so that the computer aided notebook can be opened to a variety of selected positions and where one of such positions allows a user to hold the computer in one hand while data is entered with the other while the user is in a sitting, standing or walking position. Still another objective is to develop a system that processes any change of orientation of one digitizer with respect to the other, and correspondingly alters any coordinates entered or pixels to be output on the appropriate digitizer panel.